(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film transistor array panel and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display (“LCD”), an organic light-emitting diode (“OLED”) display, and an electrophoretic display includes a pair of electric-field generating electrodes and an electro-optical active layer disposed therebetween. The LCD includes a liquid crystal layer as the electro-optical active layer, and the OLED display includes an organic light-emitting layer as the electro-optical active layer.
One of the pair of field generating electrodes is usually coupled with a switching element to receive electrical signals, and the electro-optical active layer converts the electrical signals into optical signals to display images.
The switching element for the flat panel display usually includes a thin film transistor (“TFT”) having three terminals, and gate lines transmitting control signals for controlling the TFTs and data lines transmitting data signals to be supplied for the pixel electrodes through the TFTs are also provided in the flat panel display.
Among the various types of TFTs, organic thin film transistors (“OTFT”) are being vigorously developed. An OTFT includes an organic semiconductor instead of an inorganic semiconductor such as Si.
An OTFT panel having OTFTs in a matrix alignment has several structural and manufacturing method differences when compared with conventional TFTs.
As one difference, the OTFT panel may be manufactured by a solution process such as inkjet printing.
In the inkjet printing method, an organic solution is dripped in openings defined by a plurality of partitions. This method may be used to form organic thin films such as organic semiconductors and insulating layers.
However, there are potential complications to the inkjet printing method, such as when the organic solution is dripped in the openings, the organic solution may overflow out of the openings and flow in the pixels such that spots may be generated and the thicknesses of the organic thin films may be nonuniform, and ultimately the characteristics of the thin film transistors may be influenced.